The Performance Assurance Board (PAB) for the Balancing and Settlement Code has decided to extend the derogation temporarily allowing suppliers to submit their own electricity consumption estimates for the purposes of settlement, in light of the second national lockdown.
Consumption for sites without half-hourly metering is usually estimated for initial settlement using generic load profiles based on historical data. In April, the board approved a derogation allowing suppliers to submit estimates diverging from these profiles to reflect changes in customers’ usage due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Although the derogation has also been applied to a small number of domestic sites, code administrator Elexon said it is mainly relevant for non-domestic customers who may have seen their consumption change significantly due to their premises being forced to close. It also covers half-hourly metered customers, although only for instances where there has been a problem with metering or communications.
At a meeting in September, the PAB decided to end the derogation on 31 December 2020, and at the beginning of October issued a three-month warning to suppliers to prepare.
However, the board has now decided to extend the derogation into 2021 after the government reinstated the national lockdown earlier this month, promising that it would finish four weeks later on 2 December.
A new end date for the derogation has not yet been set by the PAB but will be considered in future meetings.